The present invention concerns a hollow refrigeration fluid evaporator body with which is incorporated a heater. For instance, the evaporator body may be a tube or a cavity in a block; and the heater may be of the electrical resistance type formed as a line extending through the tube or formed to reside in the cavity, or may be provided by the evaporator body itself.
Known analytical instrumentation for testing physical properties of liquids such as oils, transmission fluids, fuels, and paints can involve cooling of a test sample in a bath of air or liquid, for example, methanol or ethylene glycol, or in a solid block. Typical configurations include a refrigerant line to cool the bath or block and a heating element elsewhere in the bath or block. Thus, temperature control, to include under cooling conditions, can be carried out.
In other applications such as room climate control, heating and any cooling are carried out by separately located heating and cooling elements. In common refrigerators and walk-in coolers, it is typical for cooling to be provided by a system in which only cooling is provided for maintaining temperature.
Such systems, as useful and valuable as they are, are not without drawbacks. The need to provide separated cooling and heating elements can complicate or clutter a configuration. In systems in which space is at a premium, this can be a critical concern. Then, too, temperature control throughout a system having separated cooling and heating elements can be less than ideal.
It would be desirable to improve upon such systems. It would be desirable to ameliorate if not completely overcome such drawbacks.
The present invention provides a heater-evaporator, which comprises a hollow refrigerator fluid evaporator body with which is incorporated a heater. The invention is useful in refrigeration and temperature control.
Significantly, by the invention, the art is improved in kind, and drawbacks such as those mentioned previously are ameliorated if not completely overcome. In particular, elements are provided which function as refrigerant evaporators as well as heaters. Space can be used more efficiently, and temperature control can be brought to a higher level of perfection. Thus, temperature can be brought, for instance, to the desired level, and heating or cooling can maintain it in the process. The invention can be adapted for employment in air, liquid, and solid baths, and in a host of target applications, to include analytical instruments, for example, viscometers, rheology-testers, and dynamometers, other cold-bath testing devices, which can include for testing engine oils, gear oils, transmission and hydraulic fluids, fuels, paints, and so forth; and container and room air conditioning devices, and so forth. Also, the system can be employed as a line warmer or preheater for different applications. As well, the invention could be employed to provide protection for a refrigeration system by adding superheat to a system.
Numerous further advantages attend the invention.